From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Maine Mariners (AHL)

Defunct American Hockey League franchise

Summary

Defunct American Hockey League franchise

Field	Value
text_color	#000000
bg_color	background:#FFFFFF; border-top:#FF6720 5px solid; border-bottom:#000000 5px solid;
team	Maine Mariners
logo	maine mariners 200x200.png
logo_size	200px
city	Portland, Maine
league	American Hockey League
founded	1977 (First franchise)
1987 (Second franchise)
operated	1977–1987 (first franchise)
1987–1992 (second franchise)
arena	Cumberland County Civic Center
colors	Orange, black
Black, gold

affiliates	Philadelphia Flyers,
New Jersey Devils,
Boston Bruins
name1	First Franchise
name2	Maine Mariners
dates2	1977–1987
name3	Utica Devils
dates3	1987–1993
name4	Saint John Flames
dates4	1993–2003
name5	Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights
dates5	2005–2007
name6	Quad City Flames
dates6	2007–2009
name7	Abbotsford Heat
dates7	2009–2014
name8	Adirondack Flames
dates8	2014–2015
name9	Stockton Heat
dates9	2015–2022
name10	Calgary Wranglers
dates10	2022–Present
name11	Second Franchise
name12	Maine Mariners
dates12	1987–1992
name13	Providence Bruins
dates13	1992–present
reg_season_titles	three (1977–78, 1978–79), 1983–84
division_titles	five (1977–78,
1978–79, 1980–81,
1984–85, 1987–88)
calder_cups	three (1977–78,
1978–79, 1983–84)

1987 (Second franchise) 1987–1992 (second franchise)

Black, gold

New Jersey Devils, Boston Bruins 1978–79, 1980–81, 1984–85, 1987–88) 1978–79, 1983–84)

The Maine Mariners were two separate professional ice hockey teams in the American Hockey League. They both played in Portland, Maine, at the Cumberland County Civic Center.

History

First franchise

Once the Cumberland County Civic Center began construction in 1976, there was discussion of the building hosting a minor league hockey franchise. Three franchises eventually made bids to play hockey in Portland: the World Hockey Association's Quebec Nordiques, the American Hockey League's Rhode Island Reds, and the National Hockey League's Philadelphia Flyers. The Nordiques, who already had a farm team in nearby Lewiston (the Maine Nordiques of the North American Hockey League), was considering supporting affiliates in Portland as well. Rhode Island, who were an established AHL franchise originally founded in 1926, didn't want to relocate to Portland, but instead proposed scheduling a dozen regular season games there. The Reds played the first AHL game at Cumberland County Civic Center, an 8–4 defeat to the Springfield Indians on March 6, 1977.

Philadelphia was the only franchise that wanted to utilize Portland as their team's sole top-level farm club, and in May 1977, the agreement to create the Maine Mariners was struck. It proved to be bad news for the Maine Nordiques, who ceased operations after the 1977 season, along with the rest of the NAHL.

The Mariners entered the league for the 1977–78 season with the Hampton Gulls and Philadelphia Firebirds. The Reds ultimately relocated to Binghamton, New York to become the Binghamton Dusters ahead of the 1977–78 season.

Bob McCammon was the Mariners' first head coach. The first regular season game in Mariners team history was played on October 14, 1977, a 5–1 loss on the road to the Philadelphia Firebirds at the Philadelphia Civic Center. The first home game in franchise history was played in front of 6,566 spectators at the Cumberland County Civic Center on October 15, 1977, against the Binghamton Dusters. Boston Red Sox outfielder Dwight Evans dropped the ceremonial opening faceoff.

The Mariners are the only franchise in league history to win the Calder Cup title in their first two seasons (1977–78, 1978–79) and at the time were the only team to ever capture the Calder Cup during their inaugural season. Later, the feat was matched by the team that brought AHL hockey back to Portland, the Portland Pirates. The Mariners defeated the New Haven Nighthawks in both the 1978 and 1979 Calder Cup Finals.

Maine returned to the Calder Cup final in 1980–81 and first-year goaltender Pelle Lindbergh became the only goaltender in AHL history, and just the third player ever, to win the AHL regular season MVP and AHL outstanding rookie award in the same season. Bob McCammon won his second AHL coach of the year award. The Mariners would ultimately lose the Calder Cup to the Adirondack Red Wings, two games to four. The Mariners would return to the Calder Cup Finals in 1983, being swept by the Rochester Americans.

Ahead of the 1983–84 season, the Flyers sold the Mariners to the New Jersey Devils of the NHL. However, the team kept the Flyers' colors of orange, black and white rather than switch to the Devils' red, green and white. The same season, Maine became only the fourth team in AHL history to win a Calder Cup title with a losing regular season record, finishing the regular season 33–36–11. The Mariners defeated the Rochester Americans in a rematch of the previous year's finals, four games to one. It was the Mariners' third Calder Cup crown and their fifth finals appearance in seven years. Maine's championship year was truly a team effort as no members of the club made the all-star team, won a league award during the regular season, or placed in the regular season top ten in scoring. Bud Stefanski was the first recipient of the new AHL playoff MVP award.

Second franchise

Following the 1986–87 season, the Devils moved the original Mariners franchise to Utica, New York, as the Utica Devils. However, Portland was not without hockey, as the league approved an expansion team supplied by players from the Boston Bruins, with Bruins general manager Harry Sinden travelling to Portland for the announcement. The expansion team assumed the Mariners name, logo, and history and took on the Bruins' black-gold-white scheme. Following the 1991–92 season, after five seasons in Portland, the Mariners franchise was moved to Providence, Rhode Island, and renamed the Providence Bruins. The team had made the playoffs just twice under Bruins ownership, and had finished fifth in the North Division for four consecutive seasons. Team president Ed Anderson said that the team was losing at least 250 season ticket holders a year over the preceding four years, and had lost $500,000 since the second franchise entered the AHL. The team was also dissatisfied with its lease agreement at the Cumberland County Civic Center. The final Mariners game took place on April 4, 1992, at the Cumberland County Civic Center, a 12–1 defeat to the Fredericton Canadiens.

Portland was not without AHL hockey for long; a season later, the Baltimore Skipjacks relocated to Portland to become the Portland Pirates. The Pirates played in Maine until 2016, when the franchise was relocated to Springfield, Massachusetts to become the Springfield Thunderbirds.

The Maine Mariners name is currently being used by an ECHL team that has played in Portland since 2018.

This market has also been served by:

Maine Nordiques (NAHL) (1973–1977)
Portland Pirates (1993–2016)
Maine Mariners (ECHL) (2018–present)

Season-by-season results

Regular season

Season	Games	Won	Lost	Tied	OTL	Points	Goals
for	Goals
against	Standing
1977–78	80	43	28	9	—	95	305	256	1st, North
1978–79	80	45	22	13	—	103	350	252	1st, North
1979–80	80	41	28	11	—	93	307	266	3rd, North
1980–81	80	45	28	7	—	97	319	292	1st, North
1981–82	80	47	26	7	—	101	325	272	2nd, North
1982–83	80	39	33	8	—	86	342	309	3rd, North
1983–84	80	33	36	11	—	77	310	312	3rd, North
1984–85	80	38	32	10	—	86	296	266	1st, North
1985–86	80	40	31	9	—	89	274	285	2nd, North
1986–87	80	35	40	—	5	75	272	298	5th, North
1987–88	80	44	25	7	4	99	308	284	1st, North
1988–89	80	32	40	8	—	72	262	317	5th, North
1989–90	80	31	38	11	—	73	294	317	5th, North
1990–91	80	34	34	12	—	80	269	284	5th, North
1991–92	80	23	47	10	—	56	296	352	5th, North

Playoffs

Season	Prelim	1st round	2nd round	Finals
1977–78	—	bye	W, 4–3, NS	W, 4–1, NH
1978–79	—	bye	W, 4–2, NS	W, 4–0, NH
1979–80	—	W, 4–2, NS	L, 2–4, NB	—
1980–81	—	W, 4–3, SPR	W, 4–3, NB	L, 2–4, ADIR
1981–82	—	L, 1–3, NS	—	—
1982–83	—	W, 4–3, NS	W, 4–2, FRED	L, 0–4, ROCH
1983–84	—	W, 4–3, ADIR	W, 4–1, NS	W, 4–1, ROCH
1984–85	—	W, 4–2, NS	L, 1–4, SHER	—
1985–86	—	L, 1–4, MONC	—	—
1986–87	Out of playoffs.
1987–88	—	W, 4–1, NS	L, 1–4, FRED	—
1988–89	Out of playoffs.
1989–90	Out of playoffs.
1990–91	L, 7–12, FRED †	—	—	—
1991–92	Out of playoffs.

† Two game combined total goals series.

Notable players

Brian Burke — 2006–07 Stanley Cup Champion while General Manager of the Anaheim Ducks.
Ken Daneyko — Three-time Stanley Cup champion, 2000 Bill Masterton Trophy winner, 1,283 NHL games played with the New Jersey Devils.
Ken Linseman — Went on to play 860 NHL games, 1983–84 Stanley Cup Winner with the Edmonton Oilers.
Pete Peeters — Went on to play 489 NHL games and won the Vezina Trophy for the 1982–83 season.
Alain Vigneault — Longtime NHL head coach. Won the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year with the Vancouver Canucks in 2006–07.

References

(March 7, 1977). "Lopsided Scores in AHL Action". [[Associated Press]], via [[The Gettysburg Times]].
(May 19, 1977). "AHL adds Portland, Hampton". [[Associated Press]], via [[The Windsor Star]].
(October 15, 1977). "Mariners Lose AHL Opener". [[Associated Press]], via the [[Lewiston Evening Sun]].
"Puck Drops At Portland". [[Associated Press]], via the [[Lewiston Daily Sun]].
(May 14, 1979). "Mariners win title". [[Associated Press]], via the [[Bangor Daily News]].
(May 21, 1981). "Vasko Gives Red Wings Calder Title". [[Associated Press]], via the [[Reading Eagle]].
(May 20, 1983). "Rochester Defeats Maine for Calder Title". [[Associated Press]], via the [[Bangor Daily News]].
"Maine Hockey History".
(May 17, 1984). "Mariners gain the Calder Cup". [[United Press International]], via the [[Bangor Daily News]].
(April 24, 1987). ""Hockey"". Saskatoon Star-Phoenix.
Perkins, Tom. (May 8, 1987). "Portland, Bruins make the connection". Lewiston Sun-Journal.
Tighe, Michael. (May 23, 1992). "Mariners pick up, move to Providence". [[Lewiston Sun-Journal]].
(April 6, 1992). "Canadiens crush Mariners in finale". [[Associated Press]], via the [[Bangor Daily News]].
(1993-03-15). "SKIPJACKS EYE MOVE TO MAINE". The Washington Post.
(June 15, 2017). "Portland lands a pro hockey team for the fall of 2018". [[Portland Press Herald]].
"Ken Linseman (b. 1958) Hockey Stats and Profile at hockeydb.com".
"Pete Peeters Hockey Stats and Profile at hockeydb.com".
"Alain Vigneault Hockey Stats and Profile at hockeydb.com".

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

maine-mariners-(ahl) defunct-ice-hockey-teams-in-maine defunct-american-hockey-league-teams ice-hockey-clubs-established-in-1977 ice-hockey-clubs-established-in-1987 ice-hockey-clubs-disestablished-in-1987 ice-hockey-clubs-disestablished-in-1992 philadelphia-flyers-minor-league-affiliates new-jersey-devils-minor-league-affiliates boston-bruins-minor-league-affiliates 1977-establishments-in-maine 1987-establishments-in-maine 1987-disestablishments-in-maine 1992-disestablishments-in-maine ice-hockey-in-portland,-maine

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Maine Mariners (AHL) — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report